This is about fangs.
Feral snarls and drool hanging from the side of your mouth.
We’re talking about a wild part of you that operates like a spirited elder, 500 years old, has all the answers, yet doesn’t flaunt that and does not engage in idle chatter.
For now, I’ll fancy this gem of a part intuition.
The animal knowing before it becomes known.
My guts get shaped. Each of us in fact, a unique gut. No diamond the same.
Though, none of us get out of being animal. We tie together this way.
How can I contact my inner-500 year old? I need some answers!
Try this with me, if you want:
Ask yourself a question - maybe something you’re having difficulty answering (play softly, don’t go to the hardest question you’re dealing with rn).
What arises naturally in the mind?
What’s the body have to say about what the mind is sharing?
Right now the back of my right knee is warming up.
My attention moves slowly. I exhale.
My hips release just a lil’ when my mind explores this idea.
I’m holding my breath when my mind explores this one.
Muscles are free to ooze with this thought.
Tense with that one.
The body is a musician. Always collaborating with the mind.
Am I listening?
I’m convinced the more we listen, the more we drool.
The feral ignites with an active listener.
Drooling because of all the jaw-dropping awe.
The sheer wonder of what it’s like to exist as a collaborator on this planet.
The serotonin that squirts from harmonizing with another human voice, the sensation of touch, the taste of salt in the air, of hope in the mind, of conflict, cruelty, processing multiple realities, multiple truths, at once, everything.
Intuition (my fav word in case you haven’t guessed) I find, can be a helpful resource when collaborating with the realities swarming in their multitude.
Like anything else, intuition requires engagement.
Reciprocity is vital.
I can’t just expect to receive its generosity without offering generosity in return.
The work of this relationship 🪴 requires frequent watering.
It feels like work to me because it is counter-culture.
Often, I have to give myself permission to even try creating intimacy with my intuition. And then, I have to give myself permission to not rush the experience.
It’s helpful for me to remember this permission-giving dance is totally normal.
It’s not a mistake.
The messaging in popular culture is to avoid any sort of self-discovery, caring, vulnerability at all costs, “Get it together. And don’t ask for help, that’s weak”!
Even the idea of asking for help gives me chills. But we need each other in order to survive. That’s just the truth.
The old movies of my mind play the culture’s propaganda on repeat, which unsurprisingly cues old patterns of mine that stem from bogus beliefs like:
You are only worth your productivity.
If I’m not paying attention, I end up doing much more work than I have to, without asking for help ever, leaving myself and what it is I care about most on the sideline, uncared for.
Damn girl. This is painful business.
Pause movie!
Pausing, I try rerouting my activity away from this pattern, one that certainly dims the lights on my intuition.
How?
I set aside time to play on purpose. Be silly. Have zero goals.
I micro-dose stopping any and all busywork throughout the day. Which is to say, I practice doing nothing.
I watch comedy specials.
I call a friend and ask for help with something small-ish so that when a big-ish thing happens that muscle is already used to doing some “ask for help” reps.
I make sounds, literally, with my voice to try and notice the parts of me living in the sounds, that are not influenced by the part that believes I must produce ad nauseam.
I try asking that part, the one that thinks constantly producing will keep me safe and loved, what it needs:
Honey, what is up with you, do you need a hug? How do you like to be loved?
This is what it looks like to reprogram my brain.
Choose a new movie to watch, refresh the system!
This is a practice, yeah?!
Yeah.
Perfectionism is not invited on this trip.
We walk around with our physical bodies all day and they are never not smack in the present moment. This means our gutsy intuition is always with us 🎉
A pool for engagement.
Accessibility plays a pivotal role (see unique shapes above).
When I’m particularly down and out, my route to accessing my intuition usually begins to sprout via gratitude and looks a little like this:
What are you grateful for?
(Right now) I’m grateful for:
My family and friends and their unwavering support
The playful and fierce sound of the wind in the trees where I live
This new red-brown nail polish I bought myself waiting in line at a Marshalls
What of those things, might help you feel a little more safe?
All of those things 😂
Ding ding ding!!! Now I know a little bit more about what makes me feel relatively safe, supported, and resourced within myself.
Feeling safer, supported, and resourced makes it easier to access my intuition.
I need to remember this all the damn time.
Feeling safer, supported, and resourced makes it easier to access my intuition.
Easier for me to hear my Intuitive Voice, my needs, desires, and expressions.
Easier for me to play and collaborate with my inner 500 year old.
If this speaks to you, maybe start with a low-stakes, easy to achieve gratitude practice.
Throw perfection in the trash can 🗑️. Really, take a minute to visualize that if it helps.
Design a practice that you would actually buy into because it would be enjoyable.
Even pleasurable!
For example, I know that practicing gratitude helps me register a visceral sense of pleasure (shoulder muscles melt, hip joints relax, etc).
Pleasure helps expand my perspective, making my mind more content and clear.
This! Helps me feel a sense of internal safety, making it easier to access my intuition.
What gives you the feeling of pleasure?
Pleasure counts! It plays a pivotal role in my creative process and it’s one of the things I have to practice cultivating most.
Knowing this way of living, upholding pleasure as a core value for instance, is counter-culture, I have to remember to engage at a pace that is natural to me, not someone else’s or the culture’s, if I want to stay clear of burning out.
Access to Pleasure —> Access to Intuition
I come back to playing on purpose.
If I have to organize some copy for a new offering, I do nothing but write gobbledygook on purpose for 5 min.
If I have to make sure my kid eats lunch but he wants to put the cookies in the oven now!! I take a sec to soak up the ridiculous amount of joy that exists in putting wooden cookies into a cardboard oven, waiting for him to say “Is it ready?” and smile even bigger when he says, “It’s ready, it’s ready” as he pulls the thin door open with a barely-hanging on piece of blue tape that plays as a door handle. First we taste these phenomenal fucking cookies, then we eat lunch.
I use music to motivate me. I desire rest, I put on some music that helps me do that. I desire a little more energy, I play a song that helps drum some up!
Get into it, ya know?
Thank goodness for my friends that remind me to keep it playful. I’m passing on the joy they give me, hoping it may offer you some.
Lil’ recap 🤓:
Intuition may just be the song the body+mind harmonize.
These beautiful body+minds get shaped just by being alive, experiencing internal and external phenomena.
The different shaping affects the access we have to our powerful intuition.
Creating intimacy with our intuition can help us live a more pleasurable, joyful life and in turn help others to live more pleasurable, joyful lives.
It’s personal and it’s collective. This isn’t all about you or me, or any single person, because we are not separate and we depend on each other whether we like it or not.
This! is why I created Intuitive Voicing.
An experience, a relationship and a practice, that helps you deepen your relationship to your body+mind and its needs, desires and expression through live music and meditation.
Thursday we are meeting as Community IV (details below), stop on by, you are most welcome to dip in an out as you please!
Love around,
Jess
Thursday, March 21st, Community IV gathers!
What?
Community Intuitive Voicing (IV) is a virtual practice space for creating intimacy w/your intuition and re-connecting to the wisdom of your body+mind through live music and meditation. Only your presence is needed!
45 min in length, come+go as you please
Learn more about Intuitive Voicing
Where?
Live online gathering from 8-9pm EST / 5-6pm PST
By Donation, Venmo @jessica-zambri (your presence is a donation too ya know)
When?
This Thursday, March 21st
Hope to see you there!
The album—> Intuitive Voicing is available to listen + purchase on Bandcamp!
Listen to the entire 30 minute guided meditation included on the album
Listen to the entire song “Foresting” one of my favs :)
"...astounding, psychedelia-spangled new age." -Bandcamp